Normal People by Sally RooneyMy rating: 3 of 5 stars
This story was initially set in Sligo, I am assuming, a provincial village in the Republic of Ireland.
Marianne, is a teenager, not ugly but not too pretty. There was also a lot of emphasis about her being flatchested, I don’t know why. She is somewhat an oddball. She is very clever but does not have any friends in school, and keeps to herself. She has a wealthy lawyer mom who is single and a brother a few years older than her.
Cornell goes to the same school as Marianne. He is handsome, a footballer and very clever too. In fact he is cleverer than Marianne and always trumps Marianne in exams. He is also very popular. His mom works as a cleaner and cleans Marianne’s house on a weekly basis. Cornell started befriending Marianne when he picked up his mom. They struck a conversation and found that they clicked really well. Cornell however, is very concerned about his reputation and agreed with Marianne that they will not make this public in school. So while in high school they pretended they didn’t know each other.
This story follows these two protagonists into their graduate and postgraduate journey. They would be separated through some incident or another, only to find themselves put together in one place at different times in their lives. And when they were together they always found themselves supportive towards each other and felt very comfortable and safe. And so the book goes on in this pattern.
Not wanting to oversimplify nor steer in the wrong direction to provide you with a spoilers, I must say this is quite a pleasant book to read. It flows easily and evoke enough interest for you to turn the pages. You will probably not find any mind-blowing beautiful prose but it is a good story about human nature. It points to the fact that no matter how individualistic we are, at some stage of the other the inherent herd instinct will override our decisions and actions. As humans we are wired to want to be perceived a certain way and that leads us to act a certain way, not necessarily to our own benefit. There was a lot of sharp honesty in this book, that made me examine my perception of myself and others.
I would actually rename this book Stupid People..but then again Normal People do stupid things, so I conclude that the title is most apt.
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